>X-Authentication-Warning: maxwell.lucifer.com: majordom set sender to
postmaster using -f>From: map@snowline.net>X-Sender: Mark@snowline.net>To: transhuman@logrus.org, extropians@extropy.org>Subject: FYI (forwarded): LFB Book News: THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE II>Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 09:29:53 -0700>Sender: postmaster@extropy.org>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.org>>>Return-Path: <Russell@LFB.org>>>X-Sender: hanneken@sirius.com (Unverified)>>Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 04:39:11 -0700>>To: BookNews@LFB.org>>From: Russell Hanneken <Russell@LFB.org>>>Subject: LFB Book News: THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE II>>>>Order now to receive one of the first 350 copies with autographed >>bookplates! This book is hot off the presses--it's so new we >>haven't yet received our copies (although we're expecting >>our shipment to arrive any day).>>>>The absolutely astounding wonders created by free people>>>>THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE II>>by Julian Simon>>(reviewed by Jim Powell)>>>>What a magnificent book! This overhaul of the original 1980 >>edition, bolstered with much new data, affirms the natural >>harmony between private self-interest and society as a whole. >>Simon dramatically highlights the wonders of spontaneous free >>markets and the evils of well-meaning government intervention >>around the world. He shows that people can achieve practically >>anything when they are free.>>>>He does all this while providing a splendid overview of human >>progress. For instance, he shows that thanks to limitless human >>ingenuity, the more natural resources we consume, the more >>abundant they tend to be. "Incredible as it may seem at first," >>Simon reports, "the term 'finite' is not only inappropriate but >>is downright misleading when applied to natural resources, from >>both the practical and philosophical points of view.">>>>Technological progress means more productivity from almost >>everything. As Simon explains, "We learn how to obtain a given >>amount of a service from an ever-smaller amount of a resource. >>It takes much less copper [wire] now to pass a given message than >>a hundred years ago. And much less energy is required to do a >>given amount of work than in the past; the earliest steam engines >>had an efficiency of about 2 percent, but efficiencies are many >>times that high now.">>>>Remember the energy scares which became an excuse for massive >>federal intervention in energy markets? "The statistical history >>of energy supplies," says Simon, "is a rise in plenty rather than >>in scarcity... Through the centuries, the prices of energy--coal, >>oil, and electricity--have been decreasing rather than >>increasing, relative to the cost of labor and even relative to >>the price of consumer goods, just as with all other natural >>resources... there is nothing meaningfully 'finite' about our >>world that inevitably will cause energy, or even oil in >>particular, to grow more scarce and costly.">>>>Two decades ago, we were told that unless governments took >>decisive action, devastating famines would soon sweep the earth. >>Yet Simon reports that more private land is being cultivated >>around the world now, especially in poor countries, and average >>yields per acre are increasing. Far from needing government >>intervention to prevent famine, government intervention is the >>scourge responsible for famine.>>>>Resourceful private entrepreneurs multiply the ways of feeding >>people: "Using technology that is in commercial use to raise food >>in hydroponic artificial-light factories... the entire population >>of the world can be fed using only the land area of Massachusetts >>plus Vermont... And the area necessary can be reduced to a tenth >>or a hundredth of that by producing the food in ten or hundred >>story buildings.">>>>Wherever Simon turns his keen analytical eye, he sees human >>ingenuity banishing fear. "The Global 2000 Report issued the >>influential forecast that the world fish catch had hit its >>limit--'levelled off in the 1970s at about 70 million metric tons >>a year.' But by 1988 the catch had reached 98 million tons a >>year, and it is still rising rapidly. No limit to the harvest of >>wild varieties of seafood is in sight. Yet fish farms have begun >>to produce at or near competitive prices... Aquaculture can be >>expanded almost indefinitely. Land is a small constraint, as >>catfish farming in the Mississippi shows; present methods produce >>about 3,000 pounds of fish per acre, an economic return far >>higher than for field crops.">>>>What if there isn't any water? Simon: "People 'create' usable >>water, and there are large opportunities to discover and utilize >>new sources. Some additional sources are well-known and already >>in partial use: transport by ship from one country to another, >>deeper wells, cleaning dirty water, towing icebergs to places >>where water is needed, and desalination... An important example >>of a newly-discovered source is the aquifiers in areas where the >>underlying rock has large faults.">>>>Simon shows why pollution tends to diminish where people are free >>to prosper, and it worsens when government intervention runs >>amuck. He cites satellite evidence that environmental disasters >>generally occur on government land, while private owners keep >>their property clean and green. He discusses the world's most >>horrifying polluter--the Soviet socialist government.>>>>Simon, who relishes irony, does observe a shortage of free >>people: "wages and salaries have been going up all over the >>world, in poor countries as well as in rich countries... The >>amount you must pay to obtain the services of a driver or a cook >>has risen in India, just as... in the United States. This >>increase in the price of peoples' services is a clear indication >>that people are becoming more scarce even though there are more >>of us." This book is a home run.>>>>EN7116 (hardcover) 656p.>>Published at $35.00>>LF PRICE ONLY $29.95>>>>(This title is not included in the 15% off sale going at at >>Laissez Faire Books until the end of October.)>>>>----------------------------------------------------------------- >>Please send this to anyone who you think might be interested>>----------------------------------------------------------------- >>>>To order THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE II from Laissez Faire Books . . .>>>>BY EMAIL: Address email orders to Sarah at orders@LFB.org. If >>you have ordered from us before, include your name and zip code >>(or postal code), and we will process your order using the >>information we have on file. If you have not ordered from us >>before, we will need your name, address, and credit card number >>(including expiration date). If you prefer not to send this >>information over the Internet, please write, telephone, or fax us >>with this information before emailing your order. PGP encrypted >>mail is accepted; email Russell@LFB.org or finger lfb@lfb.org for >>our public key.>>>>BY MAIL: Write to Laissez Faire Books, Dept L50, 938 Howard St., >>Ste. 202, San Francisco, CA 94103-4114, USA.>>>>BY PHONE: Call toll free 1-800-326-0996 (US and Canada) or dial >>(415) 541-9780. Customer service representatives are available >>between 9am and 6pm PACIFIC TIME.>>>>BY FAX: Fax us at (415) 541-0597.>>>>PAYMENT: Make a check or money order payable to Laissez Faire >>Books, or pay by credit card. (We accept Visa, Mastercard, and >>Discover.)>>>>California residents must include sales tax. (To learn the sales >>tax rate for your county, contact Laissez Faire Books or point >>your web browser to http://www.boe.ca.gov/boe/tsutr.htm.)>>>>SHIPPING & HANDLING: Standard US mail is $4.35. (International >>customers: Surface mail is $3.75.) Contact us for other shipping >>options.>>>>If you'd like to receive our free monthly printed booklist, or if >>you'd like to receive Book News announcements via email, or if >>you have any other questions or comments, please let me know.>>>>Visit our web pages at http://www.lfb.org/>>>>Russell Hanneken>>Laissez Faire Books>>Russell@LFB.org>>>>>>>>